Best countries to live in

The American weekly news magazine Newsweek has published its list of the best countries of the world to live in. Slovenia is ranked 24th, just after Italy and just before the Czech Republic. It scored highest in the political environment category and lowest in the economic dynamism category.

First place in the list was occupied by Finland, followed by Switzerland in second place and Sweden in third place. Bottom of the list was Burkina Faso.

The highest classified of Slovenia`s neighbours was Austria, in 18th place. Italy came 23rd, Croatia 28th and Hungary 33rd.

`If you were born today, which country would provide you the very best opportunity to live a healthy, safe, reasonably prosperous, and upwardly mobile life?` This is the question that the creators of the list put to themselves when designing the survey. They then compared countries in terms of five categories: education, health, quality of life, economic competitiveness and political environment.

Among the 100 countries covered by Newsweek, Slovenia performed best in the political environment category, where it was classified 17th just behind France and just ahead of Poland. In the health category it came 23rd, behind Austria and ahead of the USA, while in terms of quality of life Slovenia was 26th, behind Israel and ahead of Portugal. In the education category it was 27th, behind the USA and ahead of Lithuania. Slovenia`s worst performance was in the economic dynamism category, where it was ranked 30th, just behind Austria and just ahead of Azerbaijan.

Newsweek also published a separate humorous list of various activities and the best countries in which to pursue them. For example, India is the best country in which to fly kites from the roof of a house, the Czech Republic is the best place for sex, the Netherlands is the most gay-friendly country, and Belgium is the best place to be a dog owner.

Spain is the best place to dine and South Africa is the best place for a road trip. Malta has the best weather. France is the best place to have a baby and Japan is the best place to be old. Meanwhile, the best place to be surgically enhanced is Brazil.